Nintendo Wii Gamers Rock Band Review
The Best Parts (4 out of 5)
Rock Band has amazingly deep and satisfying multiplayer functionality that allows you and friends to rock on from wherever you’re in the world. Play a nice variety of punk, southern rock, metal, alternative, and classic tunes on your choice of drums, guitar, bass, and then grab the microphone and let a few notes rip.
Rock Band had me laughing, and playing songs that I grew up listening to on Friday night: Bon Jovi, The Ramones, Black Sabbath, and even the Stone Temple Pilots. Rocking-out to the Rolling Stones, Blue Oyster Cult, Mountain or the Outlaws is something many of us dreamed of while sitting with friends and listening to many of the songs included in Rock Band.
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The Lame Parts (4 out of 5)
They took the trouble of adding five additional songs from the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Rock Band to the Wii version. I know. I’m impressed. Why bother? If they’re going to add five songs they certainly could have gone a little farther and added a few more.
What happened to my Rock Band drums? They sound weak, no boom or bang, the sound of the drums has been softened for this version, which is a shame.
The Graphical Look (4 out of 5)
Rock Band has above average graphical presentation for the Wii console, with basic details on the characters, objects, and environments and no real graphical textures. The characters have nice animations and they move smoothly and reasonably quickly, The frame-rate isn’t the fastest, but it stays pretty steady through out the game.
Sounds in the Game (4 out of 5)
The sound better be good with a music genre video game for the Wii and we can definitely say the sound track and included songs with Rock band are solid and highly entertaining. All the vocals are spot on and sound amazing, the lyrics haven’t been butchered on re-mastered tracks as is often the case these days, so you might forget you’re not at a concert.
Playability (5 out of 5)
The 45 included tracks with Rock Band just aren’t enough for a lasting experience, you can purchase Rock Band Track Pack 1 & 2, but this doesn’t replace an online library.
Rock Band is one of the best and strongest multiplayer experiences around for the Wii gamer who loves music and ever dreamed of being a rock star. The four pads and kick-pedal mimic an electronic drum kit wonderfully and you need to swing your arms to play the drums. The microphone you hold in your hand, swing it over your head, put it on a stand, just don’t forget you need to sing into it and match the pitch and length of the notes on the screen to succeed. Rock Band does lack Guitar Hero’s soul crushing difficulty on the guitar; just match the notes on the screen to the buttons on your guitar, this time you’re playing a black Fender Stratocaster with built-in effects and five extra buttons upon the guitar’s neck for solo pyrotechnics.
Rock Band does include a single player experience for the lone gamer, but the multiplayer mode is where Rock Band was meant to live. The single player mode does have a nice variety of interesting menus, realistic animations with nice colors, about the same as the multiplayer mode.
One thing to mention though, the judges can be very harsh in Rock Band and the challenge is difficult, not that Rock Band isn’t more-forgiving than Guitar Hero, it certainly is, but it still represents a significant challenge to play all the included songs on the hardest mode.
The Last Word (4 out of 5)
Rock Band doesn’t have as much music variety in songs as Guitar Hero, but for me it’s a better party experience because it’s still hard, yet not quite as difficult and will be more fun for the casual gamer. We had to wait seven months after the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Rock Band hit the market to play Rock Band on the Wii. Seven months of waiting for five extra songs, quieter drums, and a wireless guitar as the only real changes. If you’re new to the music genre, however, then Rock Band is amazing fun, totally enjoyable and satisfying to play, and I recommend you give it a try. Yes, Rock Band is amazing fun, but if you’re playing Guitar Hero, you might as well stick with it.
